The invention relates to a holder for a rigid information disc, comprising a rectangular frame which comprises a first disc-supporting section situated near a first peripheral side of the frame and a second disc-supporting section adjoining a second peripheral side located opposite the first peripheral side. The frame carries movable clamping means for retaining the information disc on the frame; the frame is at least in part resiliently deflectable and is capable of resiling from a deflected position to a flat position.
A holder of this type is known from German Offenlegungsschrift No. 3,135,795. In such a holder the information disc is enclosed in the frame so that it need not be touched when it is put onto the turntable. The clamping means of the known holder retain the disc with a clearance such that the disc can be played while being contained in the holder. Therefore, these clamping means cannot be moved away from the disc by mechanical means in the disc-record player in order to remove the disc from the frame. The frame is resiliently deflectable to allow the disc to be manually withdrawn from or inserted underneath the clamping means after deflection of the frame, for example in order to replace it with another disc.
In disc-record players intended for playing optical information discs such as those of the "Compact Disc" type, it is desirable to remove the disc from the holder before playing and to bring the holder to a position at some distance from the turntable. However, it is desirable that these operations can be effected inside the disc-record player in a mechanically controlled manner. The above-mentioned known holder is not suitable for this purpose.